Magic, 1-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream

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We’re having a bit of a sweets problem around here. I’m pretty sure I emerged from the womb with an obsession for sugary treats (wonder how I got to weigh 260 pounds?) and even with Weight Watchers as a constant in my life, I have yet to conquer it. Instead I aim simply to manage it, to make sure that the sweets I eat are a) worth the calories, and b) made with top-quality ingredients.

When it comes to Harry, though, things are a little tougher. While the food environment at his school is a pretty good one—he isn’t given cookies or even chocolate milk routinely—there is a constant awareness of candy, Spiderman ice cream pops, and Oreos. Somebody always has some sort of brightly colored crap on the playground. I know from experience that forbidden food is infinitely more enticing (I’m a lifelong sneak eater), so I’ll let him taste what his friends are having. We have a longstanding rule: One treat per afternoon, and he gets to pick, within reason. No junky candy, no Hostess, and almost never a Spiderman pop. And if he eats a good dinner (read: tries everything, and eats a substantial amount of something) he’ll get a small dessert. That’s worked pretty well for us, for about two years.

Lately, though, we’ve noticed an uptick in his sugar-hounding. He’ll start talking about his treat in the morning, long before it’s time to choose it. He’ll try to trick us into a second treat (“But I didn’t finish my ice cream!”). And he’ll eat one bite of dinner and ask if he’s had enough to get dessert. That, in particular, drives me crazy. The last thing I want is to police his plate, to monitor precisely how much he eats of a given food. I want to be relaxed about his eating. I want him to eat when he’s hungry, and stop when he’s full. I want him to revel in the pure pleasure that comes the moment something extraordinary hits his tongue. These days he barely seems to be aware of what’s on his plate—all he worries about is if he’s eaten enough to qualify for something sweet.

I’ve tried serving dessert along with the meal, with no restrictions, which apparently works for many people. The idea is, if dessert is presented as just another thing on the table, not something special, the kid won’t focus on it so much. Um, not my kid. When we put the sweet stuff in front of him at the same time as everything else, his tunnel vision kicks in and the whole world falls away. All he sees is SWEET! SWEET! SWEET! Like in a movie, when the boy and girl first meet and the camera circles them, around and around, and everything else is just a blur. (I’ll admit, we may not have let this go on long enough for him to become used to the idea that sweets are just there, all the time. I’m pretty sure we called off the experiment in less than a week. It scared me, to see him so single-minded.)

So now we’re trying something new. No daytime treats, unless it’s something we’ve made from scratch or he’s with a friend who’s having one (I don’t want this to feel like punishment, kwim?). And dessert is fruit based. No more squares of Trader Joe’s white chocolate, or Kashi Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies. Instead, he’s had strawberries with a teeny bowl of chocolate syrup for dipping, some Briermere’s pie (the best pie in the entire world), and the recipe I’m about to share with you.

This is magic. It’s banana, just banana, nothing but banana, but when you freeze a banana and then whir the frozen bits in a food processor, some sort of miracle, alchemy perhaps, occurs, and it turns into ice cream. With no cream. No sugar. Nothing. Just banana. Harry loves this plain, but when I top it with a little quirt of chocolate syrup and a maraschino cherry, he’s in heaven.

The best part: He understands exactly what he’s eating. I’m not tricking him into thinking this is actually ice cream. All he knows is that it tastes just as good as the kind that’s not so good for him.

My oldest son (3 years old) sounds just like your boy! I cannot blame him because he has my genes and well, I’d rather eat dessert first any day of the week.

My son is not a great eater. When I say this, I mean, he just doesn’t love food. He manages to force dinner down most nights but its definitely a struggle every single night. UGH! He knows he can’t get dessert if he doesn’t eat dinner but even that doesn’t work sometimes. I’m hoping this will pass because I’ve done everything in my power to raise him as a healthy eater who respects food from making all of his baby food, teaching him how to grow vegetables to having him cook with me. Very frustrating! A I type this he’s up passed bedtime asking for a snack because he didnt finish all of his dinner. I will not give in. I will not give up. I just hope it passes soon!

Hi Christina, thanks for writing! Sounds like your boy’s a lot like mine. These days I’m trying REALLY hard to just make dinner & put it on the table. No suggesting what he should try, no making deals. And a treat-dessert is now a given Fri & Sat, but the rest of the week it’s fruit only. So frustrating, when all we want is for them to grow up healthy and strong!

priya

So awesome… I loved it when I tried it at my mom’s house with her food processor! I tried making “milkshakes” with this “ice cream” and it was amazing… just take a single serving of Silk PureAlmond Dark Chocolate milk (so its portion controlled) or a cup of almond milk and 1 tbsp of cocoa powder (but this isn’t as sweet as the other) and throw one chopped up frozen banana. Because I’m a college student who doesn’t own a food processor, I just give it a whir with my immersion blender. :)!
Awesome blog!